Hindi Journey

     Aary steps out of my apartment to take a phone call only a few hours after we met. "Haanji Dad" flows from his tongue and lingers in the room as he shut the door to continue his conversation. Sitting alone on my couch, I repeated the word not understanding what it meant or what language it was. Throughout the weeks, I kept hearing that word before he would leave the room to answer a call. Three months later while sitting around the dinner table I coughed up the question, "Why do you always leave the room to speak to your family?" Without looking up from his plate, he murmured that he didn't want to make me feel uncomfortable. Not once did I stop and think about what it must be like for Aary to date someone who doesn't share a native language. We talked throughout the dinner about my interests in Hindi and his experience growing up with 2 languages. My mind was made up that I would do anything to make sure I somewhat knew the language he was most comfortable speaking. 

    Diwali was the following month, and after bugging Aary's best friend for hours, I learned how to say "I love you" in Hindi to surprise Aary. He walked in the front door, and with a shaky breath I said "Meh tuhmse pyarr kar ti hoon".  A combination of shock and happiness lit up his face as he said it back. My mouth smirked before saying "I decided that I better learn Hindi before we get married and have kids." We laughed and enjoyed the night watching one of our favorite movies, Three Idiots. Starting out by watching Bollywood movies and listening to music, I started picking up a few phrases here and there. After listening to Aary and his brother speak, curse words ended up being half of my vocabulary. I would eavesdrop on Aary's conversations to look out for common words. Language apps were intimidating, so I started going through them one by one to find my favorite. I had forgotten that learning a new language was so time-consuming. Before I knew it, I could ask someone how their day was and respond! Playfully, I picked up my phone and recorded surprising Aary by asking him about his day in Hindi. No more than 12 hours later, millions of people had seen the video, and my journey was launched forward. 

    Encouragement poured out from friends and strangers online to keep learning. Documenting my journey on Tiktok was a way for me to both build community and inspire others to learn something new. Slowly but surely, my love for the language developed. Most of the time I was frustrated with my bad pronunciation or lack of memorization and I wanted to stop learning.  Aary would remind me that messing up was okay and that I needed more time to learn. My mind was convinced I needed to be fluent as soon as possible! One Saturday I made a big breakfast and walked into the living room saying "khaana taiaar hai" which translates roughly to food is ready. The biggest smile would appear on Aary's face while he told me how amazing my pronunciation was. Okay, maybe I'm lying about the pronunciation but speaking Hindi unprompted would brighten his day. He was the reason I was learning and would keep learning no matter the difficulties. The grammar was easily the most difficult thing for me to understand, and it still is. Why is that word masculine but this one feminine?!?! Tears flowed onto the 1st-grade worksheets I was trying to use to learn while Aary nonchalantly walks by on the phone with his brother speaking a mix of English and Hindi. I can't help but sit there and laugh as he speaks both of our native languages interchangeably with ease and I can barely speak one.

    Fluency is a long way away, and may never be reached. There are certain words I can't pronounce based off of the way my tongue flips or sits. The goal isn't fluency but appreciation. Joy is the expression you see on someone's face when you understand and communicate in a language that is comfortable to them. Knowledge and love is all around the world, and language is a key to accessing many forms of them. I know my Hindi journey isn't anywhere close to being anything past beginner, but I am excited to push myself and get better over time. I never expected to learn Hindi or any other language, but it is fun. It tests you and grows your brain in so many different ways. For now, I'll continue to butcher the pronunciation while happily trying my best!